Romany Eveleigh | « Untitled (Febo Series 1982-84) » | Project room

Vues d'exposition

Vues d'exposition

Vues d'exposition

Vues d'exposition

Vues d'exposition

There are two Febo Series. The original was made between 1982-1984. The second made over the last two years. Of the eighty plus drawings from the original series, fifty were lost. The second reproduces thirty of these lost works from photographs and from memory. This more recent series represents an attempt not only to redress the actual loss but also to reclaim the spirit of the moment and expression of creativity that the works represented—even more precious than the objects themselves. The original works were made in the spirit of discovery; these are made with a view to recovery. If much is lost to time and circumstance, much might also be gained.

Years ago I would have had concerns about copying my work in this manner, doubting the originality and so authenticity of the copied works. In retrospect these issues seem immaterial. The original Febo series explored ideas about the creative act, about beginnings, initial attempts at 'speech' or the unfolding of a thought conveyed through gesture. The more recent works return to these themes more self-consciously and at a very different moment in time. Still, just as the originals were works about and of creativity, so too are these. The character of that precarious, near-inchoate moment between ideation and articulation remains the inspiration of works, and also represents their own creative condition. Creative expression is always, at least once removed. Thought and action, reflection and expression, the past and the present are all joined in the present moment, in creativity and in action.